Savage Worlds: Necessary Evil Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Poor Wandering GM

Human Revolution

Icarus Device. Am I right?

Yeah, I've solved that game twice and I'm playing it a third time. It's just so satisfying. =]

I can neither confirm nor deny that I am currently playing the directors cut, but damn those boss fights are non-Scottish.

And getting no kill with Malik alive on the shoot down was not trivial.

IMPORTANT FOR ALL

And another thing I missed Savage Worlds uses handedness. So please declare a dominant hand for your villains. Unless you tell me otherwise I will assume right handed and that the dominant hand is used for all single hand actions and for the first listed action when attacking/etc with each hand like Sapele just did.

I apologize for the error

ALSO IMPORTANT FOR ALL

When do you want me to make rolls for you?

I am not talking about opposed rolls, the Savage version of saves, more like what is happening with Imagine right now.

The Invisibility roll should be made by me I think. She has no way to know that one persona in a group can see her until they start shooting.

I think the Telepathy roll to contact Carl was an ok call as well. Imagine expressly intended to include everyone.

The Mind reading is more problematic though as Imagine did not explicitly state she was using the power.......

How do you see this? When is it ok/not ok for me to make rolls for your character?

1) I have no problem with the DM making rolls. There are some schools of thought that the DM should make -all- rolls, all the time. That's a bit extreme, but since this the magic of the internet, it's just a random number.
Expecially if it's obvious.
Mind you, if the needed dice roll also means that there are penalties being placed i.e., you need to make a dice roll, also, that's a 2nd action, so it's at -2, maybe consider asking first so we can say if we want to do that or not.
Hence, I don't mind my hand being held a bit, especially since we're all learning a new system.

Speaking of which...

2) What with that what?

Ya, I think I may have read this the wrong way. Let find out.

Under Mind control, it says:

If the villain also has telepathy, he has a mental link of ininite distance with his victim. The subject may now venture outside the controller’s range of 12”, and can mentally relay any information the controller requires.

I took "can mentally relay any information" to mean "can mentally relay -any- information". Hence, it doesn't need Mind Reading, because the mental relay of information is built-in to the Mind Control. It seems thematic, because once you're already in the car, you don't have to break into the car again to rifle through the glove box and find all the good drugs. (What?)

I assumed this was the main reason to get Telepathy, otherwise Telepathy is kind of a waste, since Communicators are a thing.
Also, needing both rolls will extend boring parts. "Alright, now that I have complete and utter control of you, hold still while I do my Mind Reading...did it work? No? Okay, how about now? No, just hold still, I'll get it..."
=)

Mind control with telepathy allows you to send silent commands ignoring things like range (the initial control attempt has to worry about range but that is all), line of sight, competing noise et multiple cetera. It is very worth it for a mind controller.

Giving Mind reading on top of that is a bit too good of a deal. Perhaps +2 drugged or otherwise compromised bonus when reading a controlled mind would be a compromise?

Fair 'nuff. =)

Actually I was wrong, kind of.

Mind control allows you to compel the target to answer and telepathy removes range and needing to speak/hear. But if the target is deeply opposed to answering you they get the usual chance to break free. If they succeed you no longer control them.

Mind reading allows you to go after the info they are deeply opposed to give you without risking loss of control.

So we were both right but you were more right than I was.

Answers forthcoming.

Things in Imagine's Head

"Oh, Honey, there's a LOT more than that going on in my head." o: *blows mental kiss*

Sapele is right handed, and I don't have any issues with you making whatever rolls you think necessary.

I like making the rolls for active choice based scenarios (ie. smashing face, trying to figure stuff out), but have no issues if you make reactive ones (ie. does Sapele fall over, etc).

Carl is right-handed.

I also don't have any issues with you making whatever rolls you deem necessary.

Gotta remember those Wild die, lol.

Imagine

Couple o' questions.
You are using your action to interrogate the drone correct?
Remember that the Drone can still act and does so on your card. You can also move as a free action. Which leads to the next question.
Where are you trying to hide? As far as I remember you are flying just under the slanting metal roof. It is darkish up there but there is not a great deal of cover. However as you no longer need to worry about range or LOS to control George the Drone you could fly back out the hole you came in through and leave the poor fools to their fate*ahem* run like a senator from a campaign finance reform vote*cough* provide vital combat overwatch.

Thoughts?

That is an excellent point and actually brings up the larger question of "What is 'stealth'"?

Not since 2nd edition has such a question needed more definition. However, I've always thought of it as a mix of "Hide in Shadows" and "Move Silently" with a dash of "Don't attract attention" thrown in.

Hence, the eternal question: Can you do Stealth without cover?

While you can't "Hide behind stuff" without cover, there might be shadows to hide in. And you can try to "Not make noise" as well "Just don't make attention-grabbing sudden movements".

So, in this pillar-less roof, she's not actually trying to hide, so much as not draw attention. If there's fire over there and fire over there, she's probably glancing about for least-lit/deepest shadows, and hovering noiselessly by that.

Not sure how you want to interpret that, or if it even makes sense, but I'm just trying to have her be the least looked-at thing when I make a stealth check, even if that means there aren't any bushes I can hide behind like someone in a weirdly-conceived Monty Python Sketch.

That's cool "fly casually" is a perfect rationale for for stealth. I just wanted top be sure we were looking at things the same way.

Also The Fiddler just removed the drone that appeared to react to your presence. So it is likely a non issue.

Hello this is my character im working on the crunch, im new on this sytem so feel free to give me advice. So far i only have the powers, of course im planning on taking major hydrance for the 15 points which are handy. All powers are devices. All are cybernetic based except negation which is magical based. ill expand that when i get the backstory

1.Negation (9)
* level 5 (10 points)
*Device (-1)

2.Deflection (3)
*Level 5 (5)
*Device -1
*Requires Activation -1

3. Super skills (fighting) (3)
*Level 5 (5)
*Device (-1)
*Requires Activation (-1)

Things which didnt make it but im considering

Flight
Range for negation
Jinx
Malfunction

Holy ranged combat Batman!
And that was with them taking a MAP!

Ranged combat is lethal.

Three of the new Drones target Sapele. Do they see him as the largest threat, or do they just not want to miss. One shot goes low peppering you with burning wood the other two find their marks on your shoulder and stomach. {The shoulder hit was just glancing but the stomach was not. Two wounds to deal with.}

Just wanting to understand the breakdown of the attacks on Sapele:

Was he 'shaken' by the first hit? - if not then the second shot got two raises over his Toughness of 12? - doing 20 damage?

Actually 21

First shot missed. Second, which barely hit, did not beat 12.
Third shot hit with a raise and aced twice.

ow.

**ALL**

Would you guys prefer to see my rolls? I generally prefer not to show the rolls as knowing the exact numbers removes some of the mystery. Since your characters cannot easily tell the difference between trained(d6 or d8) and near superhuman (d12) in say shooting.

Just a bit surprised when the brick, with three separate superpowers contributing to a high Toughness is 2/3 dead from a single blaster shot from whats meant to be an entry level enemy? (as in one of the bad guy footsoldiers, not even a 2nd or 3rd level bad guy)

I'd agree that it seems to be far too easy to hit in ranged combat, as they just need a 4. If they were in melee with the big guy they'd need to beat 12 just to get a hit.

It was a freak shot.
There were at least 3 and maybe 4 aces in play to pull it off. A 3d6 blaster in also nasty and you guys are basically in a shooting gallery at the moment.
I expect round 4 to be very very different.

Also do not think of drones as an "entry level enemy". They are not. Drones are the backbone of the V'sori army. In 40K terms they are the Guard with the K'tharen as Space Marines. The v'sori themselves would be the specialists, chaplains, librarians ect.
SW does not really have entry level enemies. If you think of SW like Pathfinder/D&D you will be unhappy and dead.

Combat is dangerous. In pathfinder terms it is possible, though VERY unlikely for a simple goblin to one shot a 20th level paladin with a thrown kitchen knife.

The gobo-gets-lucky aspect of SW is mitigates in NE. Take a look at the 'Recurring Roles' setting rule. Basically you cannot die by accident. If that barely hit shot had creamed you would have gone to incapacitated and stayed there unless someone had a good reason to put you down.
If you all go down I foresee recapture and escape rather than headstones.

Does that help?

1) Just for now, I'd prefer to see the roles, just so I can get a better 'mental picture' about what means what. Also, we know we're facing drones which are shooting at us, so there's not much mystery that needs protecting right now.

2) Remember that another offset of the 'paladin dies from kitchen knife' scenario is the bennies-->soak roll. You spend a bennie, and role your Vigor. TN 4, success negates a wound, each raise negates another wound. Hence, your impressive toughness continues to pay dividends so long as you have bennies to throw at shrugging off wounds already taken.

The 40K analogy doesn't really work - because in reality while they might be the guard, a Supervillain built solely for combat should be like a Carnifex and tear them completely to shreds without thinking twice. The catchcry of a IG army is generally "We have reserves" and they expect massive casualties without recourse.

For your analogy to function it's more like the drones are Space Marines and K'tharen must be Terminators or better... and by extension our characters are not so much Supervillains, as much as just Villains (maybe like the Eldar - effective but very very fragile).

Regardless of the statement of 'they were just lucky' fact remains that six of them just dealt 4+ wounds in a single round, combined with making all of us shaken (even with the multi-action penalty in play). We will have to expend bennies and hope to get lucky with rolls to not be completely open to another round of fire.

This isn't meant to be interpreted as an attack, just more a factual statement.

And this is just the rapid response that arrived within three rounds of us crashing into the roof... we still need to storm the actual castle afterwards...

Atlas - the use of bennies is a double edged sword, as they are a limited resource. If we need to spend them all just to try and survive, then we can't use them for 'cool stuff'.

eg. Sapele has just spent one to soak, but he's still shaken and unable to do anything next round without spending another bennie to try and remove that condition (which is not a given). Even if that works, he'd have still spent two of three bennies to react to one round of combat.

Note: I know he can try to un-shaken without spending a bennie, but that is then his entire round's action - and the drones get another free round to blast him to oblivion, or at least re-shake him.
3d6 damage will equal or beat 12 toughness often, and with exploding dice has a very good chance of raising and adding wounds.

I suppose for completeness I should also add a smattering of 'Bah, humbug', references to 'Kids these days' and start on a long winded explanation of how things were different 'In my day...'

Everything you said is exactly true.

Well except for the bit about spending the benny only having a chance to remove shaken. Spending a benny other than to make a soak roll or to re-roll a test cures shaken. No chance of failure.

Ok the 40k analogy was bad, sorry. I should stick to what I know. That said you are not high powered villains. I am sorry if I was unclear in setting expectations.

I do take exception to you being described as fragile. Rather say that the Drones are glass cannons. 3d6 is a point-blank shotgun, or something custom like Deckard's gun from Blade Runner. Normal cops carry 9mm or .45 so around 2d6/2d6+1. It would take a lot of cops to put you down. Meanwhile you are putting 1-3 of them down a turn. (With your fighting skill a close look at off-hand attacks and Rapid Attacks would be rewarding. The only reason the grapple failed was a bad roll. Let me know if I can help rule wise)

Now let's look at the specific situation, and this is where I have to say this is not an attack. You guys have made some really unexpected tactical choices that I think served to mitigate some of your strengths. You guys walked into a shooting gallery. But you still have lots of good options. Besides I do not see them getting another round to just stand there and shoot at you.

So about expectations. Were you looking for the Carnifex/guard power level difference? As I only have a vague idea of a Carnifex let's put this in Pathfinder terms and call it a 10 level difference. Currently I'd say you have about 5 levels on the Drones. They drop on any hit over their toughness, you have wounds. They have no wild die, you have an extra +-50% chance to succeed on every test. You also have better stats/skills and powers. So they are first level fully tricked out fighters going up against 5th levels who have no to minimal gear. Does that sound about right?

I apologies if this post comes off as patronizing. This is the first PBP that I have run and I may be really bad at it. If you can suggest any actions I can take to increase the enjoyment of the game please let me know.

~PWGM

There is a relatively common optional rule in SW. Especially in the more pulpy genres. Basically everyone gets a free benny at the start of the fight. It vanishes when the fight ends but it takes some of the stress off.

What do you think? Shall we add this rule?

Hi there. 'scuse me. Sorry, ya I'll just try to make both sides mad now. =)

1) PWGM, this -may- have been a rough spot to throw in a starting party of new players, and without equipment at that. If Carl had his gun or already knew how to fire enemy guns, he might've taken pot shots from the roof, making him more effective, taking some heat off the Duo, etc.
Perhaps had we faced 4 drones(the size of the party) in each wave instead of six(1.5 party size)?
Especially considering that, as a new party facing a "Escape!" tutorial (ala. Skyrim), we were probably ready to just roll over some 1 hit die kobolds and escape to HQ where the 'real' module begins. To instead face canons, glass or no, may have been a bit of a shock. (Like, had we faced "White-stripe" drones with guns that do 2d6 now, but face Red-stripe ones at 3d6 later, and then Black-Stripe with 4d6 later still, may be a thought.)

2) With that said, we -did- walk in with pants down. Without any intel on the units we faced, the 2 melee fighters jumped into the literal thick of it. PWGM even gave us a hint, having the door of the plane lead out to the roof, where we could've used stealth and guile to gather data and launch a surprise attack on ground of our choosing. We wouldn't even need to wait for Imagine to mind-rape, we could've just had Carl stick his head through a wall and tell us what he sees while we walked along the roof. I fully accept that's not in the idiom of a claw-monster and an Ikara warrior, I'm just saying the option was there and we chose not to take it.
And, Sapele ended up taking only one wound from a shot that needed 3 aces ( .167 x .167 x .167) a .004% likely shot. With that exchange rate, we're still coming out ahead.

Hence, I say we accept this free benny for the rest of the prison scene, but turn it down for the rest of the game. Let's just just accept that we had a rough start learning this new system and drive on.
(And if one wound suddenly has Sapele thinking "Man, wouldn't it be great if some Dr. Destruction also gave us a sweet pad with some cold beers, a pinball machine, and a healing hot tub? Yeah, wouldn't it be great?" then all the better! =)

Chracter update! added hidrances and edges, changed powers. Skills and items not done yet but soon!

I have a question, there are grenades on the manual, the price listed is for a single granade or for a group of granades? its not very clear to me 500 per granade is a little bit high no?

Chracter update! added hindrances and edges, changed powers. Skills and items not done yet but soon!

I have a question, there are grenades on the manual, the price listed is for a single grenade or for a group of grenades? its not very clear to me 500 per grenade is a little bit high no?

Single.

Hi there. 'scuse me. Sorry, ya I'll just try to make both sides mad now. =)

.....

Not mad, concerned folks are not having fun, but not mad.

"...new party facing a "Escape!" tutorial..."

I strongly recommend you fight against this kind of thinking, it will get your character killed. No tutorials, no bosses, no WBL, no challenge ratings no smooth progression of kobold to goblin to orc.

NE tries to present a unified world. I while there are no doubt specialized drones I do not see a reason for them to make a weaker version. It would just cause logistic problems. Besides you know they are holding at least one meta-human here. Would you put weaker guards around something like that?

ElementalXX wrote:

Chracter update! added hindrances and edges, changed powers. Skills and items not done yet but soon!

I have a question, there are grenades on the manual, the price listed is for a single grenade or for a group of grenades? its not very clear to me 500 per grenade is a little bit high no?

Single.

And the cost is $100 for a grenade. The $500 is for a fusion grenade. Fusion grenades are V'sori tech but enough of them are about post invasion that they can be bought. For a non-V'sori version use the anti-vehicle mine from the core book (ask for the stats if want it) with a cost of $500 and a weight of 7.

OK fair enough

There is not something like C4 on the game right?

OK fair enough

There is not something like C4 on the game right?

There is in the game ..... but not listed in NE or deluxe.

Annoying.

I will check my other books and get back to you with pricing, weight etc.

One thing to note. If you want to make demolitions an important part of the character you will need a knowledge skill to support it. Well actually you don't but the other players might get a tad nervous when you start playing with explosives and are rolling a d4-2.
A d6 would represent army demo training with d8 and higher for dedicated bomb squad/explosives designers ext.

Note two. Remember that earth is occupied. Explosives, like all other obvious weapons are restricted. Current black market prices run about 10 times what the book lists. If you want to resupply easily the Streetwise skill or the Contacts edge might be useful.

Wow. A lot happened today, lol

I will probably keep some bombs as trump card, it wont be the character focus but it will be an important part, the prices are quite limiting tought so i wont be using them that often

I was planning more on stealing than buying , at the end we "are" villian arent we?. But ill keep in mind the black market if i feel like going that way

I read something that we have some kind of income in SW? how does that work on this setting?

Nope no income. Not sure where you read that.
$1000 in starting funds and then..... well you are villains.

Reposted :
Also skills are not set on stone yet, i may change if i need them. It seems like using grenades for instace doesnt ask me for knowing anything about explosives in general, but it does ask me for throwing

Bonus question: Any way to create your own explosives?

Almost done, just need to expand backstory. Also if you find information about C4 or something like that i may change items/money/skills distribution

Note: Considered power armor, but there is no listed price tought, not sure if we are meant to use that

Power armor was fielded by some earth militaries but nothing near Star City.

There is always the power point option.
The easiest way to get power armor or explosives would be to take them as powers with the device modifier.

Power armor is obvious and explosives could be something like Attack ranged for grenades or Attack hand to hand for placed explosives. Both would require some trapping tweaks (ranged reduced to throwing ranges, Hand to hand loosing the ability to add your strength to the damage, that sort of thing) but both are doable. Then you would not have to worry about re-supply or repair.

As far as the non power point way. Well then you need cash and/or a good story. Explosives will use the grenade as a guide. $100 for 3d6 damage in an MBT. Not throwable, well no more so than any other imbalanced object, but able to be detonated remotely or by however else you set up at the time. Takes a KN:explosives or demolition skill to use properly. Properly placed explosives will likely do more damage/get the focused mod/ or at the very least be allowed to ace against the object you are trying to destroy.

Making bombs is a matter of skill. Kn:demolitions would be a start. Kn. Bomb making and kn. Chemistry would also help. You don't need all these skills but the more the merrier. Add in kn.electronics to make fancy detonators.

First glance at character.
Arcane resistance is not allowed. Sorry. The powers that be keep saying they will update that but they have not yet done so. If you really want it I suppose we could work out details...

Counterattack is seasoned or better only. You are Novice.

Laser swords do not exist, use the Vibro sword form the NE guide.

Also you have no ammunition for your guns. Ammunition will be tracked to the bullet in this game until you can establish a ready supply of reloads.
You are under martial law. It is by definition an ammo-scarce situation.

As you are an ammo & gear based villain you might find the streetwise skill and/or contacts edge very useful when you need more bullets.

Double check the device mod on your powers, it gives -1 per 5 pts in the base power or fraction thereof. Your negation power for example is 8pts so the device mod actually gets you 2 points back. 1 for the first 5 and another for the 3 remaining.

Can he resist the beautiful, shiny bennie? The jolly, candy-like bennie? Will he hold out? CAN he hold out?!

Nope, lol. Hope you guys make your Vigor rolls, lol.

This is just something that came to mind now that I'm (finally) starting to understand the rules.

Under Telekinesis, it says that if I hit something, the strength is d10 "(by Fighting), just as if it were wielded by a character of the same Strength."

And if someone is hit by something using fighting, the damage formula is usually [damage of Strength] + [damage of object].

Hence, is there also a die to be rolled to include the object being used?

Like, if he say that an arm of a deceased drone is akin to a short sword, hitting something would cause d10(str. of Telek.) + d6(short sword).

Does...does that make any sense?

I would call an arm more a Small Improvised weapon d4 damage -1to hit/parry. The whole body would be more like a Large Improvised Weapon d8 -1hit/parry.

At least that is my first reaction. Willing to go d6 and forgo the improvised mod in this instance.

I would call an arm more a Small Improvised weapon d4 damage -1to hit/parry. The whole body would be more like a Large Improvised Weapon d8 -1hit/parry.

At least that is my first reaction. Willing to go d6 and forgo the improvised mod in this instance.

Question: it does not matter after that amazing string of aces but are you slamming the arm into the target or throwing it? You are rolling Fighting which would be slamming but the description implies throwing.
There strengths and weaknesses to both. No real difference here but let me know and it is something to be aware of next time.

There is no -2 from Mind Control but there is a MAP from using TK twice. First use: Grabbing the arm and moving it about. Second use: attacking.

Okay, noted.

Yeah, the d6 is fine. Feel free to roll another d6 for damage if it's called for. (I rolled the extra d6 is case I raised his toughness.)

Yeah, it'll be the Fighting one. I'll update my mental schema.

Okay, for some reason I thought the grabbing and the fighting was one action (I wish it would been more explicit with that in the Telek. description.) I guess Imagine should always have a random part or weapon floating about her like an Ioun stone if she wants to telekinetically hurt something.

Okay, noted.

Yeah, the d6 is fine. Feel free to roll another d6 for damage if it's called for. (I rolled the extra d6 is case I raised his toughness.)

Yeah, it'll be the Fighting one. I'll update my mental schema.

Okay, for some reason I thought the grabbing and the fighting was one action (I wish it would been more explicit with that in the Telek. description.) I guess Imagine should always have a random part or weapon floating about her like an Ioun stone if she wants to telekinetically hurt something.

So question for you. The rules are silent on this and as you are the telekinetic you get to make the call. IMPORTANT, if you can do this then so can other TK artists

Can you Wild attack and/or Rapid attack with a telekinetically wielded weapon? Any penalties to parry will apply to both you and the weapon/object should either be targeted.

If it matters a yes answer will take out the Drone (I will retro a wild attack if you wish me to), you are that close.

Actually I am going to assume a yes to keep moving. Let me know the real answer and if you decide 'no' then this was a fluke.

A who's a jigga-what now?

Oh. You're talking about this thing that I really should read more.

I'm going with 'no' on this one. Couple reasons:

1) Basing this off the true masters of "fling your weapon really hard", the Jedi, every BattleFront game I've played (both of them) just shows a lightsaber spiralling out there. If anyone in the multiverse could turn-dodge-parry-thrust with their weapon, it would Luke, and he just doesn't, so no.

2) I don't see the control being that fine to perform combat maneuvers with it.

3) Cheeeeeeeeeeeesy as balls. By definition the thing is a ranged attack (I'm over here, you're over there, hence 'ranged') and if that were possible, yes, anyone could do it. I've never bought the trappings/theme of 'rage at range' so I'm not gonna dip my stick in that now.

1. cool

2. cool

3. Rapid attack is allowed for ranged attacks. It came out of the Wild West setting "Deadlands" where it was known as 'Fanning the hammer'. It lost some oomph and made it into deluxe as something that both Fighting and most Shooting (depends on the weapon: Glock 19, ok Bolt action rifle, not so much) could do. Think of it as a really crappy sweep/cleave or someone trying for suppressing fire w/o a full-auto weapon.

Follow up. Should you or another TK master have edges that help fighting attacks can those edges be used w/ TK? Thinking things like Sweep, Counterattack, Florentine, Frenzy, Mighty Blow, and Weapon Master et.al. No need to answer now, but worth a thought or two.

**All**

This has yet to come up but I was reminded of another common rules tweak I wanted to put before the group.

The idea is that if you roll snake eyes, a one on both the trait and wild die, you cannot spend a benny to reroll the result. You do however earn a benny for the unpleasantness you are about to experience.

Thoughts?
Like it, hate it, reply hazy ask again later?

Almost done, ....

Excellent spot to add you to the game coming up.

Also did you mean you name to be Chancellor or Chanceller?

Taking a rough look at what is on the alias now

Hindrances
Who is the enemy? Why do they care about you in particular among all the problems in this occupied world?
I STRONGLY advise against taking the V'sori as the enemy here. They are kind of the default enemy of the campaign so taking them as an EXTRA enemy means they are making a specific and dedicated effort to find and deal with you in particular. You can go ahead and take it but do not be surprised when a you encounter a strike team dedicated towards killing you and equipped to counter your specific skill and powerset. This might also cause team issues as you will draw heat to them as well.

Are you taking the default Code of Honor or do you want to tweak it?

Edges

Rich can be quite useful. Where does the income come from? How are you hiding this from the V'sori and whoever your enemy is?

Gear.
You still have no bullets, gutsy move.

more than happy to help with any questions etc. I expect the other players will be as well.
~PWGM

**All**

This has yet to come up but I was reminded of another common rules tweak I wanted to put before the group.

The idea is that if you roll snake eyes, a one on both the trait and wild die, you cannot spend a benny to reroll the result. You do however earn a benny for the unpleasantness you are about to experience.

Thoughts?
Like it, hate it, reply hazy ask again later?

Sure, no problem.